Improvement in cartridge-retractors for breech-loading fire-arms



No. 48,337. Y PATENTED JUNE 20, 1865.

. J. GRAY. CARTRIDGE RETRAGTOR FOR BREEGH LOADING FIREARMS.

mil/7m v I if 1 v I 1 J1. I

I l L* l V inventor:

- UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. 1

' JOSH UA GRAY, or MEDFORD, lnAss, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF, H. ELDREDGE,

or BOSTON, Mass, AND s. SiBUOKLIN, or rnovmeson, n. I.

IMPROVEMENT lN CARTlilDGE-RETRACTORS FOB BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 48,337, datedJune 20,1865.

. 1 do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, andexactdescription of the construction'and operation of the same,-reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, forming apart of thisspecification, in which-- Figure 1 is alongitudinal central sectionthrough a portion of the receiver-in the line in. a: of Fig. 3,representing the breech-pi'nand the other parts to which myimproveinentsre late in the pcsiticn assumed bythem when y the rifle isready to be diseharged. Fig. 2-is a similar view of the same,representing the ",breech-pin drawn back forthe insertion of a ,-.-caftridge. Fig. 3 is a top view of Fig. 1. Fig. he a plan of one of theinner sides of the reeeiver, showing the slot I in which the guidepins mn of the'breech-pin slide. f Fig.5 is a side elevation of thebreech-piu'det'ached. Fig. 6 is a plan of the cartridge-extractordetached, and Fig. 7 is an elevation of the front end of the same.

Like parts are indicated by the same letters v v the breech-pin placedupon it between the front in all the drawings.

' My'present invention isintended more especially for making what areknown as the- Spi'ingfieldrifles into breech-loaders; and

its nature consists, first, in the peculiar con} structionandarrangement of the cartridge-extractor Q; second, in the peculiarconstruction and arrangement of the cartridge guide and expeller B.

To enable others skilled in the art to make "and use my invention, Iwill nowproceed to describe the construction and'operation of the same.

A is the receiver, the shape and size of which are clearly shown in .thefirst three figures.

This receiver-slot is of such a nature that it. can by the properdevices be very cheaply and readily made in the common muzzle-loading.Springfield rifle or any other of a similar construction. D is thebreech-pin, the size, shape, and construction of which are clearly shownin Figs. 2 and 3. Projecting from one side of the breech pin are twoguide-pins, m n, (see Fig. 5,) which are intended to slide in the grooveI (see Fig.

4) in one side of the receiver, whereby the breech-pin is always kept inadirect line with the barrelH.- These pins m and n are inserted throughthe hole o (see Fig. 4) in the side'of the receiver.

F is a lever, one end of which is attached to' the back end of thebreech-pin by means of the pivot a, as shownin Figs. 2 and 3.

' the receiver in the slot 3 by the pivot d and the other to theleverFby the pin b, as reprelever F are shoulders or abutments to w,which, when the breech-pin is in the position represented in Fig. 1,come in contact with corresponding shoulders in the receiver, by means.of which it is obvious that the breech-pin will be held firmly againstthe barrel. On the top of the breech-pin is a raised incline, D, for thepurpose describedabove.

O is the sliding cartridge-extractor, which consists of a flat strip 'ofmetal, the frontend of which is turned up at a right angle and pro videdwith a semicircular hole, h, the back end having a start, j, while thebottom-is provided laid upon the bottom of the receiver-slot; and

end and the start j. The extractor is thrown forward into the recesst,-- as represented in Fig. 1, by the forwardend-of thebreech-pin, andthrown back into-the position shown in Fig 2 by the lower corner, i, ofthe breech-pin striking against the start j.

B is a lever, shaped as shown in Figs. 1 and '2, and confined in theslot k in thebottom of the receiver by means of the pivot c. This leveris held in the position represented in Fi ,"2 by the front end of theextractor (l, and when in this positionzits upper edge operates as aguide for the cartridge into the barrel H.

When the breech-pin is driven forward into the position shown in Fig. 1the guide B is thrown down by the forward end of the extractor-C intothe slot it. After a metallic-cased cartridge has been fired the case iswithdrawn by the front end of the extractor, being more than halfencircled by the semicircular slot h. It is also simultaneously thrownupward and out of the receiver by the sudden rising of the front end ofthe lever B.

To insert a cartridgelin the barrel H, the

G is a link,'one end of which is attached to sented inFigs. 1 and 2. .Oneach side of the v with a slot, f. '(See Fig. 6.) This extractor isbreech-pin is dravi'n into the position shown in Fig. 2, and thecartridge is laid, right end forward, onto the guide-leverB; when thele-' ver F will be brought down-intp the position shown in Fig. 2, andthe cartridge will be driven by the front of the breech-pin into thebarrel. Having thus deseribed the nature of niyinvention, what I claimas new, .aliddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The cartridge-extractor 0, provided with the slot f, in combinationwith'the guide and expeller B, Substantially, as and for the purpose'described.

"QLThe sliding breec'li-bin D, extra'ctorO;

and guide and expeller B, when constructed, combined, and operatingsubstantially as de-

